SIGN our letter calling on Congress to protect and robustly fund WIC! → When you click the link you will automatically be signed on if we have all your information. SIGN NOW

Dear Friend,

With all the debt ceiling negotiations and attacks that extremists in the House of Representatives are making these days, one thing could be getting lost in the mix: a major threat to the Women, Infants, and Children Supplemental Nutrition Program (WIC) that could lead to the most vulnerable losing vital access to healthy foods and breastfeeding counseling.

This is a real emergency and we need to speak out now!

***SIGN our letter calling on Congress to protect and robustly fund WIC!
-> When you click the link you will automatically be signed on if we have all your information.

Here’s what’s happening: WIC is getting attacked from all angles. The House Republican budget not only holds our families hostage by calling for across-the-board cuts to programs like WIC in order to raise the debt ceiling to avoid default in the next two weeks, they also want to gut fruit and vegetable benefits by nearly 62%, dramatically decreasing access to nutritious foods for nearly five million women and kids enrolled in the program. [1]

With rising food costs, and increased program participation, it is more critical than ever that we strengthen WIC to provide pregnant people, new moms, infants, and toddlers with the nutrition assistance, formula, and breastfeeding counseling they so desperately need.

What would cuts like this mean to our families? States would need to create a waitlist to get on the WIC program–a move that would be incredibly detrimental to the well-being and health of pregnant women, babies, and toddlers. Perhaps even more horrifying, not being able to serve all those who qualify for WIC could lead to agencies having to make the difficult decision of choosing between serving postpartum moms and toddlers….a choice we should never have to make in a nation as wealthy as the United States and that hasn’t taken place since the late 1990s.

The extremists in Congress can’t win! We need to stand up and speak out now!

***SIGN our letter calling on Congress to protect WIC and the nutrition of millions of pregnant moms, babies, and toddlers!
-When you click the link you will automatically be signed on to our letter if we have all your information.

WIC serves to safeguard the health of low-income pregnant, postpartum, and breastfeeding women, infants, and children up to age 5 who are at nutritional risk by providing nutritious foods to supplement diets, information on healthy eating including breastfeeding promotion and support, and referrals to health care. It is one of the most powerful tools we have to combat hunger and poverty and give babies a healthy start at life!

The letter we are sending our elected leaders in Congress states the following:

Dear Member of Congress,

With rising food costs, and increased program participation, it is more critical than ever that we strengthen WIC to provide vital nutrition, formula, and breastfeeding support for pregnant women, postpartum moms, infants, and toddlers.

Congress should provide $6.3 billion in funding for WIC to serve growing caseloads, extend the benefit bump for fruits and vegetables, and demonstrate support for the ongoing science-based review of WIC’s food packages.

WIC has experienced a 12% increase in child participation since 2020 and the program is expected to serve 6.5 million pregnant and postpartum women, infants, and young children in fiscal year 2024. For decades, there has been a bipartisan commitment in Congress to provide necessary funding to serve all eligible participants. Should Congress fail to increase its investment in WIC in FY24 to reflect growing caseloads, the program will be in danger of returning to waitlists for the first time since the late 1990s.

Please support pregnant women and our families by protecting WIC from unnecessary and damaging cuts and robustly fund the program to support current caseloads.

Sincerely,

Don’t forget to sign our letter to support the vital nutrition pregnant women, new moms, infants, and toddlers need. Once you sign you can also share this email and our action page with your friends and family and encourage them to take action as well.

Thank you for protecting WIC and protecting our families!

-Elyssa, Hanna, Donna, Kristin, and the whole MomsRising.org & MamásConPoder Team

References:
[1] “National WIC Association Condemns House of Representatives’ Proposed Agriculture Appropriations Bill for Drastic Cuts to WIC.” May 17, 2023. https://www.nwica.org/press-releases/national-wic-association-condemns-house-of-representatives-proposed-agriculture-appropriations-bill-for-drastic-cuts-to-wic#.ZGUOTHbMK3-

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